The Home Front: There are more government workers than coal miners in Delta County, Colorado

Post-coal, Delta County, Colorado is at a crossroads, reportsThe Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “There are now more government workers than miners in Delta County. The communities are in transition, coping with the fallout from the loss of jobs and tax income to support schools and other public services. Diversification is the mantra for the North Fork now, in a place where most people realize the mines are not coming back, even as they mourn the loss of more than 1,000 jobs in the past three years. It’s possible that in the not-too-distant future, the only miner left in Paonia will be the memorial’s bronze statue standing sentinel over this community, staring toward the mountains, wearing his headlamp and wielding his pickax.”

The Greeley Tribuneprofiles a naturally talented local high school artist named Alexis Garcia Moreno.

“The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office is concerned that the risk assessment questionnaire the county uses on people awaiting trial is leading to lower bonds that put the community at risk should those people re-offend,” reportsThe Longmont Times-Call. “But officials with Boulder County maintain that the test is the best way to assess defendants and said numbers show bond amounts have very little influence on a person’s behavior outside of jail.”

“On March 9 the town of Carbondale notified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission it plans to install a micro hydropower turbine in a pipe leading to its municipal water treatment plant on Nettle Creek,” reportsThe Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “On March 13 FERC found that Carbondale’s project qualified for a quick review under the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013, which streamlined the permitting process for hydro projects of less than 5 megawatts. And by April 27, if no one claims the project doesn’t qualify, the town can expect to get a letter from FERC saying the town does not need a license and can go ahead, at least as far is FERC is concerned.”

“People in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction can now take advantage of new transitional sober housing provided by The Foundry Treatment Center,” reportsThe Steamboat Pilot & Today. “The center last week officially opened two transitional living houses in Steamboat Springs, one for men and one for women, each with six beds. The housing is meant for people continuing their recovery after completing a residential program at The Foundry or elsewhere.”

“Tobacco use and teen pregnancy in Pueblo are down, incidents of animal bites are at a four-year low and the Pueblo City-County Health Department is now one of just 155 health departments in the country to be fully accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board,” reportsThe Pueblo Chieftain. “These were some of the major highlights of the 2016 Pueblo City-County Health Department’s Annual Report released earlier this week, the department’s biggest statistical endeavor in evaluating services provided in the previous year. “Our top thing that we were honored and proud of was to achieve accreditation to be an accredited local public health department,” said Sarah Joseph, the health department’s Public Information Officer, ‘There’s only 155 in the nation and only four in the state of Colorado, and we did it on our first go-round.'”

“Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum,” reportsThe Denver Post. “So it’s not a surprise that it took less than a week for two Democrats to declare their intent to run for the U.S. House seat held by Ed Perlmutter once the Democratic congressman made official his own bid for governor on April 9. Now that they’re in the race, however, the question facing state Sen. Andy Kerr, state Rep. Brittany Pettersen and anyone else who wants to capture Colorado’s 7th Congressional District is how Perlmutter has managed to dominate the seat for so long.”

“In the span of a week, the online publication of a nine-second video of a woman’s arrest in Fort Collins catapulted the scene outside an Old Town bar to an international stage,” reports The Fort Collins Coloradoan. “During that same week, Fort Collins police leadership has said that officers’ body-mounted cameras captured at least two different perspectives from the now-viral arrest of 22-year-old Michaella Surat. The footage captured could provide context of the minutes leading up to Surat’s arrest, but it remains under wraps, even as the officer involved has been placed on leave pending an investigation into his use of force. So, why hasn’t the department released the potentially clarifying evidence and put an end to this a public relations headache?”

“The Coal Creek Canyon residence where authorities are investigating a triple homicide was specifically targeted, investigators say, and there is no threat to the general public,” reportsThe Boulder Daily Camera. “The Boulder County Coroner’s Office on Sunday night identified the three victims as 54-year-old Wallace White and 56-year-old Kelly Sloat-White, both of Golden, and 39-year-old Emory Fraker, of Broomfield. Boulder County Assessor’s online records show the Whites as the current owners of the three-bedroom Coal Creek Canyon home at 800 Divide View Drive.”

“A U.S. District Court judge has requested a court hearing on Wednesday in Denver to hear the arguments regarding the proposed Village at Wolf Creek,” reportsThe Durango Herald. “In February, all court filings related to a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to essentially approve the proposed development were submitted to Senior Judge Richard P. Matsch.”

“More than a dozen community members gathered Saturday at U.S. 50 and Justice Center Road to protest recent and past actions by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and to sign a petition to recall Sheriff Jim Beicker,’ reportsThe Cañon City Daily Record. “Cañon City resident Rick Ratzlaff is spearheading the crusade. Ratzlaff in December 2016 discovered evidence from a 2006 homicide in a storage unit he purchased at an auction. The unit previously belonged to FCSO Detective Robert Dodd who since has been placed on routine administrative leave. The evidence found was from the Candace Hiltz case, who was 17 at the time of her murder. Hiltz was found dead Aug. 15, 2006, in a family home in the Copper Gulch area.”

“Saturated earth in western Colorado Springs took days, weeks and months to form landslides that have ruined about 26 houses, and resolution of the homeowners’ woes, likewise, is moving at glacial speed,” reportsThe Gazette in Colorado Springs. “I’m very frustrated because I’m making two mortgage payments, and I don’t see any activity,” Linda Carroll, who abandoned her landslide-socked house in Lower Skyway and moved to terra firma on the city’s northeast side, told the paper. “We haven’t had appraisals; we haven’t heard any news. We thought we’d be getting payouts in a couple of months. It’s so hard to just sit in your property and not know what your future’s going to look like or what offers are to be made — or even if you will have an offer.”

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About the Author

Corey Hutchins

is a journalist in Colorado, and Columbia Journalism Review's Rocky Mountain correspondent for the United States Project. Follow him on Twitter @CoreyHutchins and email him at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.

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